# Daniel Levy (דניאל לוי) (political analyst)
**Daniel Levy** (דניאל לוי) is a British-Israeli political analyst and commentator who is president of the US/Middle East Project and a former Israeli government peace negotiator, having served on the Israeli team at the Oslo-B talks under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and at the 2001 Taba negotiations under Prime Minister Ehud Barak.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) He writes and broadcasts regularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and United States policy in the Middle East, appearing in outlets including The Guardian and [Democracy Now!](https://www.edgepedia.org/democracy-now)[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) • [2](https://www.democracynow.org/appearances/daniel_levy)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | President of the US/Middle East Project, an independent policy institute based in London and New York[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) • [3](https://www.thecairoreview.com/contributors/daniel-levy/) |
| Negotiation record | Israeli peace negotiator at the 1993 Oslo-B talks under Rabin and at the Taba negotiations in January 2001 under Barak; a SourceWatch biography dates his Oslo-B team service to May to September 1995[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) • [4](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy) |
| Geneva Initiative | Lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial peace proposal[5](https://www.al-monitor.com/authors/daniel-levy.html) |
| Government post | Senior policy adviser to former Israeli Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin, March 2000 to March 2001[6](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/a48af37d-d832-4cd6-92cc-9b83fc1b87f2/822217-1195400.pdf) |
| Think tank career | Senior fellow and director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation and of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation; head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations until 2016[4](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy) • [7](https://ecfr.eu/profile/daniel_levy/) |
| Education | Bachelor's and Master's with Honors from King's College, Cambridge; prizes in Social and Political Science and Scholar of the College[4](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy) |
| Languages | English and Hebrew[7](https://ecfr.eu/profile/daniel_levy/) |
## Negotiation career
Levy's government service underpins his standing as a commentator. The Guardian's profile describes him as an Israeli peace negotiator at the 1993 Oslo-B talks under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and at the 2001 Taba negotiations under Prime Minister Ehud Barak,[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) while his SourceWatch biography states that he served on the negotiating team for the "Oslo B" agreement from May to September 1995 under Rabin and was a member of the official Israeli delegation to the Taba negotiations in January 2001.[4](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy) From March 2000 to March 2001 he was a senior policy adviser to Yossi Beilin, Israel's former Minister of Justice; a thesis on the permanent-status negotiations likewise describes him as an adviser to Beilin and part of the Israeli negotiation team at Oslo II and at Taba.[6](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/a48af37d-d832-4cd6-92cc-9b83fc1b87f2/822217-1195400.pdf)
He later served as the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative, a peace proposal assembled outside the purview of the Israeli and Palestinian governments.[5](https://www.al-monitor.com/authors/daniel-levy.html) • [8](https://newrepublic.com/article/38519/the-insufferable-daniel-levy) In a 2006 interview on the accord, he argued that anyone who thought the alternative to a two-state Geneva-style solution was a [one-state solution](https://www.edgepedia.org/one-state-solution) had to take into account that the realization of a one-state option was "decades and perhaps generations away."[9](https://www.lucistrust.org/content/download/4952/59111/file/Daniel_Levy_interview.pdf)
## Think tanks and advocacy
Levy has held a sequence of policy-institute positions. At The Century Foundation, Levy led the Prospects for Peace Initiative as a senior fellow, and he likewise held a senior fellowship directing the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation, an organization that calls itself a center-left provider of serious analysis.[4](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy) • [10](https://www.meforum.org/rewriting-history) A RAND conference proceedings biography lists him as senior fellow and director of the Middle East Policy Initiative of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation.[11](https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/conf_proceedings/2007/RAND_CF237.pdf) He then headed the [Middle East and North Africa](https://www.edgepedia.org/middle-east-and-north-africa) program at the [European Council on Foreign Relations](https://www.edgepedia.org/european-council-on-foreign-relations) (ECFR) until 2016, where his listed areas of expertise are the Middle East and national security.[7](https://ecfr.eu/profile/daniel_levy/)
At the US/Middle East Project, the institute he now leads, his published commentary has argued that human rights and international law should be a timeless part of addressing problems in Israel and Palestine, and that the international community urgently needs to begin doing so once more.[7](https://ecfr.eu/profile/daniel_levy/) In a 2014 ECFR commentary on European recognition of Palestine, he argued that recognition signals to [Palestinians](https://www.edgepedia.org/palestinians) an alternative to armed struggle and violence in pursuing their legitimate political aspirations.[12](https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_on_recognising_palestine_speech_excerpts_from_daniel_levy382/) He has also been identified as a co-founder of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel advocacy group in Washington.[13](https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2010/10/07/j-street-co-founder-daniel-levy-the-go-to-guy-for-the-hate-israel-first-media/)
## Public commentary
Levy is a frequent media commentator. A 2007 critical survey in National Review Online described him as one of the most frequently quoted and interviewed pundits on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the mainstream press, with his name appearing regularly in the New York Times and Washington Post.[10](https://www.meforum.org/rewriting-history) His Guardian columns span more than a decade, from analysis of the 2014 Gaza violence to pieces on the US diplomatic strategy on Israel and Gaza and on what Netanyahu and the Israeli right mean by "Greater Israel."[1](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy) On Democracy Now! he has appeared repeatedly as a roundtable guest and interviewee, including on the January 2025 Gaza ceasefire deal, the Trump administration's Gaza proposals, and the 2026 Iran war.[2](https://www.democracynow.org/appearances/daniel_levy) In a January 2025 roundtable with Gazan analyst Muhammad Shehada and journalist Jeremy Scahill, he argued that Prime Minister Netanyahu was already working to renege on the ceasefire deal and continue a war that had helped him retain his political power.[14](https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/16/gaza_ceasefire_deal_analysis) In a 2025 Cadena SER interview he was among the signatories, organized by the group Jews Demand Action, calling for respect of [International Court of Justice](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-court-of-justice) decisions and the use of "specific sanctions."[15](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/10/24/daniel-levy-negociador-de-los-acuerdos-de-oslo-netanyahu-tiene-que-comparecer-ante-un-tribunal-cadena-ser/)
His positions have shifted in emphasis over time. A podcast profile describes him as a former ardent two-state believer whose language now challenges the framework of the [Oslo Accords](https://www.edgepedia.org/oslo-accords), and in an interview with Ahram Online he said he has considerable sympathy for the criticism, advanced by Palestinians among others, that Oslo could never have delivered justice because the [Palestine Liberation Organization](https://www.edgepedia.org/palestine-liberation-organization) was compromised and weakened.[16](https://podscan.fm/podcasts/uncategorized-novara-media-podcasts/episodes/downstream-what-the-us-iran-peace-negotiations-are-really-about-w-daniel-levy-2) • [17](https://english.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front/Inner.aspx?NewsContentID=576258)
## Criticism and reception
Levy's commentary has drawn sustained criticism from pro-Israel and conservative outlets. The Middle East Forum published a 2007 "factchecking" piece accusing him of misleading historical claims in a bloggingheads.tv debate with [David Frum](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-frum).[10](https://www.meforum.org/rewriting-history) The New Republic criticized arguments he made in the same debate, including his contention that Israel started the Six Day War.[8](https://newrepublic.com/article/38519/the-insufferable-daniel-levy) Breitbart has attacked him as a co-founder of J Street,[13](https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2010/10/07/j-street-co-founder-daniel-levy-the-go-to-guy-for-the-hate-israel-first-media/) and Honest Reporting Canada objected to a CBC Ideas episode devoted to his views, describing them as fringe.[18](https://honestreporting.ca/petitions/cbcs-nahlah-ayed-host-of-ideas-program-devotes-hour-to-radical-anti-israel-ideology-espoused-by-activist-daniel-levy-as-always-no-balance-no-pushback/) One profile of his views notes that he calls himself an "anti-Zionist" although he believes Jews living in Israel have rights there.[19](https://www.rahs-open-lid.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Loewenstein-Antony-My-Israel-Question_-Reframing-the-Israel_Palestine-Conflict-Melbourne-University-Press-2009.pdf)
## References
1. [Daniel Levy, profile, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniellevy)
2. [Shows featuring Daniel Levy, Democracy Now!](https://www.democracynow.org/appearances/daniel_levy)
3. [Daniel Levy, contributors page, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs](https://www.thecairoreview.com/contributors/daniel-levy/)
4. [Daniel Levy, SourceWatch](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Levy)
5. [Daniel Levy, author page, Al-Monitor](https://www.al-monitor.com/authors/daniel-levy.html)
6. [Master's degree thesis, Ca' Foscari University of Venice (PDF)](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/a48af37d-d832-4cd6-92cc-9b83fc1b87f2/822217-1195400.pdf)
7. [Daniel Levy, expert profile, European Council on Foreign Relations](https://ecfr.eu/profile/daniel_levy/)
8. [The Insufferable Daniel Levy, The New Republic](https://newrepublic.com/article/38519/the-insufferable-daniel-levy)
9. [World Goodwill interview with Daniel Levy on the Geneva Accord (PDF)](https://www.lucistrust.org/content/download/4952/59111/file/Daniel_Levy_interview.pdf)
10. [Rewriting History: Factchecking Levy, Middle East Forum / National Review Online](https://www.meforum.org/rewriting-history)
11. [RAND conference proceedings CF237 (PDF)](https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/conf_proceedings/2007/RAND_CF237.pdf)
12. [On recognising Palestine: speech excerpts from Daniel Levy, ECFR](https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_on_recognising_palestine_speech_excerpts_from_daniel_levy382/)
13. [J Street Co-Founder Daniel Levy, Breitbart](https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2010/10/07/j-street-co-founder-daniel-levy-the-go-to-guy-for-the-hate-israel-first-media/)
14. [Daniel Levy, Muhammad Shehada, Jeremy Scahill on Ceasefire Deal, Democracy Now!](https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/16/gaza_ceasefire_deal_analysis)
15. [Daniel Levy, negociador de los acuerdos de Oslo, Cadena SER](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/10/24/daniel-levy-negociador-de-los-acuerdos-de-oslo-netanyahu-tiene-que-comparecer-ante-un-tribunal-cadena-ser/)
16. [Downstream: What the US-Iran Peace Negotiations are Really About w/ Daniel Levy, Novara Media](https://podscan.fm/podcasts/uncategorized-novara-media-podcasts/episodes/downstream-what-the-us-iran-peace-negotiations-are-really-about-w-daniel-levy-2)
17. [Israel's drive for regional domination cannot be ignored, Ahram Online](https://english.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front/Inner.aspx?NewsContentID=576258)
18. [CBC's Nahlah Ayed devotes hour to radical anti-Israel ideology, Honest Reporting Canada](https://honestreporting.ca/petitions/cbcs-nahlah-ayed-host-of-ideas-program-devotes-hour-to-radical-anti-israel-ideology-espoused-by-activist-daniel-levy-as-always-no-balance-no-pushback/)
19. [Antony Loewenstein, My Israel Question (PDF)](https://www.rahs-open-lid.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Loewenstein-Antony-My-Israel-Question_-Reframing-the-Israel_Palestine-Conflict-Melbourne-University-Press-2009.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › International relations › IR study, geopolitics and chronology › IR theory paradigms and scholars › IR theorists and scholar biographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license